Get Your Pretense On!

Chapter 4: Put Off, Renew, Put On • 93

darts of the evil one; [17] and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, [18] praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints [italics mine]. ~ Ephesians 6.10-18 These texts reveal that the thoughts we have told ourselves, often times for years, if they are false, have their root in Satan’s attempt to undermine and confuse us. He is a liar from the beginning, and he suggests his lies to us which appear in the form of our self-talk day by day. In order to forge a new identity, we must learn how to detect and evaluate our hidden core assumptions about God, ourselves, others, life, and the world. The enemy’s falsehoods tend to swirl around these categories of our self-talk, what I call “the big five.” Lies deeply held and long-told within us in these five areas have caused immeasurable pain, suffering, and insecurity in millions of peoples lives. We can overcome them with the truth of God! Patrick Rothfuss has a character in his novel, The Name of the Wind who says the following, that I believe wholeheartedly: “It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story .” Yes, we build ourselves out of the story we tell ourselves day after day after day. If we intend to live out the truth in Christ, we must interview every judgment about ourselves, urging “only new identity assumptions and attitudes need apply.” Below is a chart to help you start to challenge long-held beliefs about yourself which are not consistent with the Word of God and its testimony of who you have become in Christ.